Tokyo  ramen  in English  24 by 7
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Here is an up-to-date map of all Ramen Tokyo "Recommended Shops" in Tokyo, now numbering more than 110! Click on any map pin to bring up the name of that shop and a link back to the associated Ramen Tokyo page. Click on the Ramen Tokyo Maps link at the bottom left to go to a larger and more versatile map with printing and filtering capabilities. Please give us your feedback on whether this is useful or not.
CommunityWalk Map - Ramen Tokyo Maps
Nagi "nicai" (lowercase intentional) is related to the main Nagi chain according to Supleks, but does not appear on their home page as a branch. Word has it that the bottom floor of the building, which has the Nagi noren on it, has closed as of this writing, or will soon close. This review is about the recently-opened combination ramen shop/izakaya on the second floor. They are a ramen shop at lunch, and an izakaya at night, with a limited set of ramen dishes. I was one of the first customers of the day last Saturday. They were doing some construction on the stairs (very steep and narrow) and they seemed surprised to see a gaijin at that time of day. Note the noodles above in the niku tsukesoba (肉つけそば) - they are almost the width of lasagna noodles, but are slightly thinner. They are laid wet and thick 20-30 layers in the bowl and lots of fatty pork cubes are layered on top. The tonkotsu gyokai was very think and good and matched the noodles well, it was just a bit hard to get them into the broth for soaking. Very different texture and taste.
Google Maps
Tabearuki Page
The kanji for this shop's name mean roughly "elegant hometown". This place is actually a Taiwan-style Chinese restaurant back in one of the love hotel areas of Shibuya, past 109 up the hill on the left walking away from JR Shibuya Station. They have a fair number of interesting items on the menu including sausages, various gyoza items and Chinese wines/sakes. Large room with a number of tables (supposedly they seat 130) for multiple people along with a long counter from where you can see all of the goings-on in the kitchen. I had the chicken broth with shredded chicken and noodles, and some sui gyoza. For the price the noodle and chicken amounts could have been bigger but this is Shibuya. Might be interesting for a group dinner etc.
Google Maps
Tabearuki Diary
Usagi offers good shoyu tsukemen, including special long menma and linguine-style al dente katai noodles, an extremely generous portion. Their ramen and dan-dan men dishes are also quite good. Currently they have hand-made gyoza also and buta meshi dishes, all very good. One minus is that the the shop is somewhat cramped and they were pretty stingy with the air-conditioning on a hot weekday in July.
Google Maps
Fat Diary
First place in Sumida-ku. Good mid-price Chinese about 5-10 mins walk north from Kinshicho Station on the JR line. Also accessible via Hanzomon Line. Excellent suratanmen - but very peppery. Thick broth with somen noodles. Very flavorful full-length negi cuts. They have it with and without the noodles so be sure to specify. Many interesting things on the menu (the ones I could read) but it is hand-written in very-difficult-to-read script with very little kana - bring a someone who is a good experienced kanji reader. Many couples in there for a lunch on a Sunday - there was a line inside and outside the shop.
Google Maps
Livedoor Page
Interesting Article on Kinshicho Here
Good tonkotsu gyoukai at this place - name roughly translates to "no end", "not fixed" or "infinite". Noodles even thicker than the average tonkotsu gyoukai place. The pork was also very good, very fatty pieces approaching tontoro quality. Only food complaint was that the amount of broth was a bit small. Interesting karashi takana on the counter. Unfortunately the good food was spoiled by the atmosphere - this is one of the noisiest places I have ever eaten at in my life. No problem that it's small and narrow - I've eaten in places 1/3 of the size of this. Three of the shop staff stood directly over me for most of my meal and watched me eat every bite. They also bumped into me repeatedly as they shuffled behind me and yelled out commands to each other - the stools were fixed to the floor so I couldn't push mine in any more to get out of their way.
Interestingly enough, when I left, one of the shop staff members ran after me out on the sidewalk and asked me what I thought of the meal, and I gave them roughly the same answer as the above, albeit in slightly less formal and more limited Japanese. They explained that the shop was so small and narrow, to which I then asked why that meant they needed to shout and scream, to which they had no answer, as is usually the case.
Note also that the "ultimate kotteri" version of the broth that you may see buttons for on the ticket machine on some other blogs, has been discontinued (note the white paper covering it up on the overhead menu). This place is related to or part of the Muteppo chain.
This will probably be the last tonkotsu gyoukai place for a while, there's just too many of them now and they all deliver roughly the same thing.
Google Maps
Tabearuki Page
This is the first miso ramen place that has our "Recommended" rating in a long time, if ever. Small shop with 8 seats only, less than 2 minutes walk from Keio Fuchu Station on the Keio Line, down at the end of a small alley past the Mos Burger, almost directly across from the station. I wasn't able to find a direct translation of the "soken" compound (創研) in the couple of dictionaries that I looked at, but I am guessing that it means "creation of improvement" or something similarly deep (but nonsensical at the same time.) The "kurenai" (紅) means deep red and is also the "kou" in "koucha" (the tea). Line of only 5 people when I arrived but it was hot out. Small bench in front. Napkins but no tissues. Spoons and water. The ticket machine was having some problems and one of the customers had to ask the guy to open it up and give him his tickets. I recommend the Kurenai ramen (紅ラーメン) for 790 yen with extra pork (豚肉増し), for an extra 300 yen. Not a big menu here, they also have regular miso broth (no spice) and super spicy. The miso broth is quite rich, which is bolstered by the additional spicy miso that is stuck to the side of the bowl, and the ra-yu that is also added. But the real star here is the noodles. Custom made, they are like toushomen noodles but also more squiggly and thick. Very generous portion, which is good since there are no omori options on the machine. They are the perfect compliment to the shaved pork that makes up the buta part of the dish. Their combined texture along with the spicy but not too spicy both was excellent.
Also thank God they looked at the noodles, then looked at standard plastic chopsticks, and said "OK, well that won't work". The chopsticks have grooved rings on the pointy end to better hold the noodles, much like treads on snow tires.
Across the alley is the more conventional Mensoken Kanade, with various other ramen flavors including shio etc. That's the last picture above, the first is Kurenai. This place has a relatively low ranking on Supleks but I am sure it will improve.
Google Maps
Supleks Page
Shop Home Page
Good Pictures
More Good Pictures Including the Machine They Make the Noodles With
The Men Deru (麺でる) shop, a Jiro-inspired ramen shop which has its honten in Yukigayaotsuka, has now opened it's first branch shop in Togoshi, near Togoshikoen station on the Tokyu Oimachi Line.
http://ikemen.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2010-07-12
Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen fame was featured on the "Japan" episode of the Discovery Channel's program Culinary Asia, which has been airing the last few weeks on the Discovery Channel Japan (CS2 340). This program is well-written and well-filmed and it delves into a number of interesting Asian cuisines at a deeper level than most food shows.
http://www.yourdiscovery.com/web/culinary-asia-en/video/japan
The NishiDai Ramen Jiro opened at the end of June, practically right across the street from NishiDai station on the Toei Mita line. You can see the sign for the Jiro in one of the pictures above. However the shop is not on the street, it is in the back alley on the left. Enter under the "A" in AntenDo, and go to the back, make a left, and then a right and walk back until you get there. Odd. Watch the people walking up and down the alley, but at least it won't be too bad with the mamachari bicycles. Note on the poster above that it says "地図不要" (no map required). Had an interesting experience - for the first time in my life at any Jiro, or perhaps any shop in Japan with a ticket machine at all, I put my money in and no ticket (in this case a plastic chip) came out for my sho buta double (小豚ダブル, 850 yen). Uh-oh. Not sure what to do so I told one of the two guys behind the counter. He came out to look in the machine to see if it got stuck somewhere but it wasn't. Considering events like this are probably non-existent here, and of course I'm the only gaijin in the shop that day/week/month, I expected a problem. However I was relieved when they simply said "OK no problem - go ahead and sit down". So anyway, it's obviously a new store, very clean and well-laid out. The management team is very particular on where you stand, how many people can be waiting in the store, etc. Very professional. When the bowl came it was quite big, a bigger portion than most Jiros, especially for the sho (小). Very good pork not, much fat. Pork volume appropriate for a double order. Noodles were very thin, thinner than linguine.
Edit: also forgot to mention that there is a Daiei right down the street for some inexpensive value-oriented shopping immediately thereafter.
Google Maps
Good Pictures
Apparently, due to complaints from neighbors about the line etc., the famed Rokurinsha, the place that can arguably get credit for having started the tonkotsu gyoukai boom, has closed its main and original shop in Osaki:
http://rokurinsha.com/news/n00046.html
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/gourmet/news/business/20100805-OYT8T00776.htm?from=yolsp
They will open somewhere else, according to the tennushi.
Recently on the Tokyo Eye program hosted by Chris Peppler, there was an episode covering Tokyo ramen shops.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/tokyoeye/archives100714.html
The segment presenter was Kevin Cooney and some other person whose name I don't recall. While I respect the effort they must have put into the episode, and the shops they presented are decent, some of the other information was simply not appropriate for the viewers, such as the recommendation to walk into most any ramen shop. 90% of the ramen shops in Tokyo are simply not worth going into. There also was no mention of the various ramen resources that are available to non-Japanese speakers to find out about good ramen shops in Tokyo, such as this blog, Ramen Adventures, or Ramenate.
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